Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Malaysia Should Go Green with Nuclear Energy to Achieve Vision 2020

In realizing our
country’s Vision 2020 (Wawasan 2020) which has the primary objective of making
Malaysia a fully developed country by the year 2020, the government has to take
the right action to meet the nation future energy demands. Eventually, the
fossil fuels will be exhausted or depleted. Without denying the vast number of
other renewable energy sources, our country should also look into more
sophisticated technologies to tap these energy sources. Renewable energy
sources such as solar, wind, and tidal are proven not so suitable in Malaysia due to its weather and geography. That being said, having nuclear energy for power
generation in near future seems inevitable.

So, should
Malaysia go nuclear to meet its future energy demands? Indeed, this question
has been the focus of heated political debate in this country for the past nine
years or so. Malaysia’s fourth Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, was resolutely
committed to a non-nuclear country. However, his successors have made some moves
toward nuclear energy production since his resignation. For instance, Dato’ Sri
Peter Chin Fah Kui, who is the current Minister of Energy, Green Technology
& Water, announced plans to build two 1000MW nuclear power plants by the
year 2022 during his speech in December 2010. A month later, Dato’ Sri Najib
Razak announced the establishment of the Malaysian Nuclear Power Corporation
which lead the planning process of nuclear energy in this country.

Needless to say
that he Fukushima accident has raised doubts whether Malaysia is ready for
nuclear power, but however Deputy Prime Minister remained confident that
Malaysia would “implement what is the best” for the country and learn from
Japan to ensure public safety.

Below is the article “Malaysia says to go ahead with
nuclear plans, to learn from Japan crisis”taken from The
Malaysian Insider (15th March 2011) by Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani:

The No. 3 nuclear reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
plant is seen burning after a blast yesterday, March 14, 2011. Muhyiddin said
the Malaysian government will learn from Japan to ensure public safety.

PUTRAJAYA, March 15 — Malaysia is taking note of the Japan nuclear
crisis when implementing its plan to build two nuclear power plants in the
future, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

He hat while the government is concerned about public safety and is
watching developments in Japan, he remained confident that Malaysia would
“implement what is the best” for the country.

The deputy prime minister stressed that the government would learn from
Japan to ensure public safety.

“I think it is something which every country in the world is taking
note of, what is happening in Japan. There are many things that we can learn
but what is important is the safety of the country and the people.

“In this matter, we have an agency that is responsible and they know
what they are doing and we are confident that they will implement what is the
best,” he told reporters during a press conference today.

Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Peter Chin had also
said that the “government will not do it secretly without informing the
public”. Chin added that the Malaysia Nuclear Power Corporation had opened a
tender to international consultants to conduct a study on the location,
suitability and safety of the location, type of technology and public
acceptance of the proposal.

However, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek yesterday had called
on the government to reconsider building a nuclear plant following the
explosions to nuclear reactors in Japan after the March 11 earthquake and
tsunami that devastated the country.

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As the population increases and our country becomes more industrialized, the idea of using nuclear energy for power generation is certainly the right one. The truth is, Malaysia cannot continue to depend heavily on fossil fuels (natural gas & coal) for power production. These fossil fuels will deplete eventually.
In fact, many other developed countries have opted for nuclear power due to its efficiency & environmentally friendly effect.
Therefore, what's stopping us to "go green, go nuclear"?